This book is about the key concepts, frequently asked questions, and modern analytical techniques involved in evolutionary research, ecology, genetics, and biogeography. The reader is taken through the process of scientific observation and study, beginning with detailed natural-history observations before moving onward to the formulation and refinement of scientific hypotheses, fieldwork, laboratory examination, and computer-based analysis of results.From the classical questions asked by zoologists, botanists, and physical anthropologists — reconstructing phylogenetic relationships, inferring areas of origin, and more — to the complexities of understanding fitness landscapes, analysing developmental constraints, and interpreting norms of reactions, Professor Tarkhnishvili draws on 45 years of research experience to explore and emphasize how important and original results can so often be obtained with relatively simple research techniques.Chapters range from discussing the breadth of experimental and analytical methods available to detailed descriptions of specific complex biological systems, and from why the evolutionary constraints and random factors such as genetic drift matter to the problem of biological species and the necessary balance between practical taxonomy and conceptual correctness.Reconstructing Evolution, developed from the author's course "Methods of Evolutionary Research" taught at Ilia State University, Georgia, is an invaluable resource to help undergraduate and postgraduate students, amateur naturalists, and professional biologists interested in evolutionary ecology or animal science understand how research questions are postulated, studied, and described.
